Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Despite record low levels of unemployment across Canada, many sectors are suffering from labour shortages in the second quarter of 2022, with restaurants and hotels continuing to be amongst the worst hit.
According to a new survey by Statistics Canada, nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of businesses in accommodation and food services said they would face labour shortages in the next three months – the largest proportion across all other sectors.
This sector was also most likely to see a spike in the number of vacant positions in the next three months. In March 2022, the job vacancies for this sector rose to 12.8 per cent – the highest rate across all sectors in the 11th consecutive month.
Statistics Canada conducted the survey from the beginning of April to early May 2022. During that period, businesses with more employers were also at greater risk of losing their employees in the next three months.
Based on these results, employees may be required to put in more working hours to address the labour obstacles.
The report comes at a time when Canada’s current inflation has touched 7.7 per cent– the highest in nearly four decades. In a recent report, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) highlighted the labour shortage and the wage pressures in Canada and said that higher immigration could help address these issues.
The businesses expecting labour shortages largely belonged to those with a high number of employees. Larger businesses with more than 19 employees foresee labour shortage as a bigger obstacle in the next three months than smaller businesses with fewer than 19 employees.
Larger businesses with over 20 employees were also more likely to expect their number of vacant positions to increase over the next quarter, than smaller businesses with fewer than 19 employees.
Among businesses expecting labour shortages, nearly three-fifths (58.7%) reported recruiting and retaining staff was more challenging now than 12 months ago, according to the report.
Almost two-fifths (36.9 per cent) of businesses expected skilled labour recruitment to be a challenge and over one-quarter (27.6 per cent) of businesses anticipated retention of skilled staff to be an obstacle.
According to the report, construction (49.5 per cent) and manufacturing (47.4 per cent) businesses were most likely to face recruitment challenges of skilled labour over the next three months. Retention of skilled employees was recorded as highest for accommodation and food services (42.4 per cent), followed by health care and social assistance.
With growing labour challenges, professional, scientific, and technical services were most likely to expect management (68.2%) and existing staff (63.5%) to work more hours in order to meet the labor challenges.
The survey also found differing expectations in recruitment, retention, and working hours tied to the number of employees each business had.
Retention of skilled employees was an obstacle for nearly three-fifths (56.5 per cent) and almost half (48.4 per cent) with 100 or more employees and 20 to 99 employees, respectively. This was slightly lower 36.6 per cent) for businesses with five to 19 employees and under one-fifth (17.2 per cent) for very small businesses with less than four employees.
Statistics Canada analysis showed that recruiting skilled employees was an obstacle for nearly two-thirds of businesses with 20 to 99 employees (65 per cent), followed by those with more than 100 employees (62.8 per cent).
Even smaller firms expected recruitment of skilled staff to be a challenge in the next three months– with over half (52 per cent) of businesses with 5 to 19 employees raising hiring concerns.
When it came to the size of the company, larger companies – 100 or more employees (61.4%) and 20 to 99 employees (59.3%) – felt the need to add in more work hours in comparison to smaller firms – 5 to 19 employees (47.1%) and 1 to 4 employees (40.5%).
In order to attract skilled staff and retain old ones during inflation, businesses are struggling to adjust their current wage plans.
The issue is bigger for businesses employing more than five people, with seven in 10 businesses expecting inflation to be an issue during salary negotiation.
This means an increase in the average hourly wage. In the first quarter of 2022, 45 per cent of businesses said they planned on raising their wages in the coming year.
However, with inflation on the rise, more than half (55.2 per cent) of businesses expect the high cost of living to be a bigger issue when discussing pay hikes with their employees.
This is especially true for accommodation and food services (76.1 per cent), followed closely by manufacturing (70.9 per cent).
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.